scawwy ✦ karlach cliffgate

[recession]

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[ablazement]

[she wrinkles her nose at him, sticking out her tongue like a big five year old.]

That's right, you won't. [a beat.] D'you think heat would help at all? Like a compress.

[recession]

Ufh... I don't know.

[ At this point, asking him to brain his own medical state is a lot. He tries though, trying to think through the feverish haze, raising a hand to rub at his good eye tiredly. ]

Cool towel. That's what they always had for kids with fevers. A quiet Whisper would've fixed this, maybe. Make it better. Heat's for releasing tension. No good for fresh wounds.

[ablazement]

[well, she is not very good at cold, but. she watches him for a second.]

Alright - just sit tight, then. I'll be back.

[and she pulls herself up and goes off somewhere? she'll be back in like half an hour. maybe forty-five minutes. she's got like several cans of things that were in the freezers in the gas station, wrapped up like the world's shittiest ice packs.

she'll come over and tuck one against his side, carefully. she is trying so hard, daan.]

[recession]

[ It's fine. He'll just be delirious for a while and also depressed about the state of affairs of things.

When she's back though, he kind of stirs alive again only to relax a bit at the cold cans. He sighs, bringing one to his forehead with a slight wince. ]

That's fantastic. Good thinking.

[ablazement]

[taking care of people makes it so she doesn't have to think about the existential dread of all her friends being dead!]

Thanks. [she says, relieved. she'll stay a bit away so her heat doesn't make them not cold, but.] Portable cold bringer, that's me.

[recession]

[ We really are both going through the dread of all our friends dying but we are definitely taking it different ways. ]

...

You don't need to force yourself to crack jokes to make me feel better.

[ablazement]

[brings you this on the subject of friends]

I'm... [a pause, as she starts to argue that, and then she just exhales.] It's all I've got right now.

[recession]

Just don't want you to be forcing it for my sake.

[ He can only vaguely laugh, a hollow noise. ]

[ablazement]

[a little shrug.]

It's not just you. [that she's forcing it for.]

[recession]

... You ever get worried you act too much?

[ablazement]

Think I should be worried?

[recession]

...

Ah, no... it's nothing. Stray thought.

[ablazement]

[curiously:] Do you worry you act too much?

[recession]

...

I don't know.

Mr. Iwatooshi told me something like that. Like he thinks I'm holding something back sometimes.

Do I come off that way?

[ablazement]

[she tilts her head back, thinking.]

You're a private person. But that's not an act, that's just how you are. [...] You've been through so fucking much, and that's just the shit I know about. You do what you've got to, in order to function.

[recession]

...I'll tell you what I told him, I suppose -- that it's commendable how honest and open you both can be.

It's impressive. Not that I ever felt like I was trying to hide much... not for malicious reasons.

Sounds like you can get a grasp as to why.

[ Because it's fucking miserable all the time. ]

[ablazement]

Nah. I don't think you're hiding things to be a sneak.

[she smiles just a little at what he says, but it's brief.]

... You're a doctor. That's your thing, but I think it's personality, too. You're keeping the pain and burden off the people you treat, which is everybody.

Why d'you think I'm on you so often to lean on me, huh? It's fucking lonely, to be like that.

[recession]

...It's the rule and philosophy I've learned, after all.

[ To give himself in exchange for the healing of others. ]

...

Really though... maybe after this, I actually will quit medicine...

[ He was not overexaggerating or making a joke when he said that about learning your guys' WORM LORE. ]

[ablazement]

Yeah, well. Unlearn it, maybe.

[she teases, folding her arms on the edge of the bed, resting her chin on them. like she can say shit.]

Anyway, wow, did we scare you that bad? [SORRY ABOUT THE WORM LORE.........]

[recession]

Oh. No. Well...

I'd been thinking it for a little while ever since I slodged through those three days in Prehevil. Ever since I came back from the war, really.

...

[ He briefly thinks about saying something else, but decides against it. ]

Thought about my future. What I'd even do if I survived that city.

Supposed I could go back to Rondon. Get my license for real, open a private clinic... but then, it'd just be work, work, work. I really could use a break.

[ablazement]

You really could use a break.

[her tail swishes back and forth against the floor.]

I like that you're thinking about your future, even if you're not sure what to do with it. That makes me happy.

[recession]

...Maybe a bar.

[ He doesn't really address the last part because he doesn't know how, but hey. ]

[ablazement]

Hah, yeah? What kind of drinks?

That's like - alchemist shit, it transfers, right? [sure???]

[recession]

...Huh?

[ WHAT ]

I mean... I'd just make cosmos... martinis... I'm not doing anything that fancy.

[ablazement]

[HELP]

Yeah! I mean - I knew a guy in the Gate, right, who made health potions and all sorts of things, and then he got tired of that and went to work at the Elfsong, and he made the best drinks.